Finding tomatoes that do well in the fall is a HUGE challenge and is so dependent on the summer and early autumn heat. Here are the criteria I use when trying to select tomatoes for fall: 1) Days to Maturity 2) Flavor 3) Ability to set flowers in heat In a way, you could say Days to Maturity is the MOST IMPORTANT factor and, technically, you would be right BUT it seems more important to me that the tomato be able to flower AND set fruit while the weather is still quite warm. Some tomatoes that have the "right" DTM still won't produce a good fall crop because many of their August flowers don't set fruit until the temperatures are more to their liking in mid to late September. And, there is no way to know in advance which tomatoes will or won't set fruit in heat, except perhaps based on the experience of other tomato growers in the hot regions of the country. Based on my experience in growing tomatoes in Oklahoma and Texas, I would say the best fall crops come from plants that: a) produce smaller rather than larger tomatoes b) produce on determinate plants set out earlier than what is usually advised for fall tomatoes c) are often advertised as "plants that produce all summer long", like Arkansas Traveler, Porter or Homestead 24 I generally choose for flavor, and tend to avoid all those tomatoes bred specifically to produce in the heat like Heat Wave or Sunmaster because they lack flavor. For fall cherry tomatoes I favor Sun Gold, Rosalita, and Black Cherry. For smaller slicing or salad tomatoes I usually go with Porter, Black Plum, Martino's Roma or Heidi. For larger tomatoes, I usually go with Purple Cherokee, Earl's Faux, Black Krim, Persimmon and Better Boy. Although Better Boy lacks the outstanding flavor of the heirlooms, it sometimes produces like gangbusters in spite of our extreme heat. Two of my best producing years with Better Boy, I had spring-planted plants produce tomatoes until the first frost in October, and had to pick dozens and dozens of green fruit the day before the freeze. Last year, Persimmon, Black Krim and Cherokee Purple set fruit in August and September despite our high temps that kept hitting 110 to 114 degrees. I thought that was amazing. This year I am going to try a lot of heirlooms for fall tomatoes, especially the heirloom winter storage types. I also am especially interested in seeing how Neves Azorean Red, Cherokee Chocolate, Champion and Little Brandywine do as a fall crop. In the past, Bucks County produced well all summer and into the fall but it appears to be "gone" this year, and there has been speculation in the tomato world that Little Brandywine is, in fact, Bucks County simply re-named. To get a fall tomato harvest, I do ALL of the following: In early- to mid-July, I cut back a few of the healthiest tomato plants to 12" to 18" tall and feed them a good balanced fertilizer. I keep them well-watered and they are usually flowering sometime in August and producing fruit in September In early to mid-June, I set out fall tomatoes that I have raised (in 4" pots) from seed outdoors in the heat. Raising them outside in the hot weather is hard, but it ensures they can handle the heat. I like to get these in the ground as early as possible in June. Setting them out later in June makes it more likely we'll get fruit before a freeze. I always set out a couple of fresh plants in VERY LARGE containers that can be pulled or pushed into the garage to avoid the first freeze and then brought back outside as soon as weather allows. If an early frost is threatening, I will cover two to four of my most productive fall plants with a blanket or heavy 6mm plastic. If you can protect them and get them through that first really cold weather spell of autumn, we often have 4 to 6 weeks of "Indian Summer" and will get a lot more ripe fruit during that time frame. Finally, if really cold weather is inevitable, I pull up the tomato plants that have a lot of fruit and hang them upside down in my tornado shelter or garage. A lot of those fruit will continue to ripen, sometimes for weeks! This is especially true for cherry tomatoes. Many years I pick a lot of green ones in the fall, but would rather have ripe ones than green ones (!) so anything that can be done to stretch the harvest is worth the time involved, I think. And, once in a blue moon the first fall freeze will be VERY, VERY LATE here....sometimes after Thanksgiving, and in a year like that, I have a huge fall harvest and am pretty much the happiest woman in Oklahoma!

Wow. 8 years ago you had this question. Probably you've found the answer to your question but in you haven't. John Paynter, in Bokeelia is the answer to your your question! He has an incredidible place to visit!! I begged him for four years to graft me one of these jewels called Franchell (Yes, named after Frank Smathers and his wife Michelle... husband combined their names to name this mango). His Franchelles are right there close to his house and are the highlight of mango season at his place! They are so juicy and I find different layers of flavors and it finishes up with like a mango crush next to the peeling that I loved to spoon out or rake my teeth across. Juice running all down your arms, pretty big, beautiful, WONDERFUL summer treat of a mango. You sample some of his other interesting novelty mango but you always end up saying, "Let me get a more of Franchelles before I go! you end up with 8-10 of them. And in his words of the tree, "Oh they fruit themselves to death!!" He has to prop them up and the still break branches from the load of these beautiful, beautiful mangoes. I just LOOOOVE THEM. I asked why you're the only one with this mango and I told him that the guys around the corner from you (Steve & Jessie from Fruitscapes) act like they're afraid to talk you about sharing this gem? He had a heart about it and gave them some budwood. They grafted it and Steve said they set the baby trees out too late or something and the cold killed them in their field. An incredible waste!!!! I had offered John Paynter $100 apiece if he would graft me two of them. After three years he did that too but ended up giving them I think he said to sister or relative visiting. BUT I'M STILL LOOKING FOR IT!! Somehow, I still hope to get one or two. Needless to say it is one of my top two favorite mangoes!! Steve at Fruitscapes does not see the big deal I rave about it and says it just tastes like a juicy Tommy Atkins. Yeah sort of. But it's just got so much other hard to explain STUFF going on about. It is an all-around fun and totally enjoyable mango. His customers buy that one the most and he has sooo many! SO if you get one, tell John Paynter to hold one or two for me! Tel him I'm "the only black guy he knows in Sarasota," a running joke we have. Look him up and maybe you can reach him concerning letting one of these babies go out to some of us. Oh yeah. He is a fun guy but he now calls his Franchelles his "Exclusives!!!!!!!" He said he reached out one time with Jessie and Steve but that's it. These Franchelles kind of makes his famous or something and he will repeat it: "These are my exclusives!!!!!" Him and his mom will sell you all the fruit you want but don't go near the trees! I take a trip there once or twice to get these and visit around and maybe one day something will give and let me have a tree.

I am glad you enjoyed the reading. It sure was a wonderful trip. I am now trying to get all the pics offf my cell phone...sigh ...no memory card...and then I will get the whole thing put together. Will keep me busy for weeks ! c

One thing you can do with old photos is to scan them at the highest resolution that you can. Then begin blowing up the scan, and looking into the detail of the photo. You will be very surprised what you begin to see. I did this with some of the old old family photos taken back in the early 1900s. Blowing them up and peeking at things like the scuff marks on the shoes of the children, the detailing on the home made dresses, a barb wire fence between the yard and a corn field, which had corn ears fully grown on it, so it had to be late in the year. And most of all, I could see the expression in the eyes of my grandmother. But you might see the detailing of the boards on the porch, the way the steps were built and from what, and were they painted or not. Any flower beds and what was in them. Many of the homes in my old pictures were not painted, but were of rough lumber sometimes board and batten. But the young couple were invariably standing proudly in front of their home, probably newly built or expanded. Hard working people in homemade dresses and overalls and brogan shoes. It was as close to Southern American Gothic as you can get. Another one I loved was of my great grandmother Sophia taken in the hog pen with this huge hog which she was feeding. Going on the assumption that they had pictures taken of important things or events, I decided this was important because she was proud to be able to feed such a fine hog which would be slaughtered and feel her family well during the winter. Plus, she loved animals and took good care of them. I guess I inherited that love from her.